20 Apr 2024
Spook The Horses - Brighter Album Review
09 Apr 2012 // A review by Alistar3000
Spook the Horses may be New Zealand’s answer to seminal post-metal band Isis. They share many similarities – the layers of sound, sparse vocals, driving heaviness.
But they also have enough differences to set them apart. Spook the Horses know when to use subtlety to their advantage, drawing the listener into the music. They let their songs build slowly, working heaviness in to create contrast rather than beating the listener down with it. While there are some intensely heavy moments within their songs, their approach to song writing means that that heavy sound fits within the greater context of each song, becoming and understandable part of the story, or landscape, rather than the sole focus.
All of which means that their music should have a broad appeal, as they can’t be seen solely as a metal band, or even a hard rock band, any more than a band like HDU could. Spook the Horses are musical storytellers, landscapers of sound, and their debut album Brighter showcases all these talents.
The band has garnered a reputation for incredible live shows and that always presents a challenge when trying to capture that experience in a recording. So while Brighter may not be the equal of the live performance, it serves as a more than competent taster of what the band is capable of.
Brighter
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About Spook The Horses
The band layers three guitars, synthesiser and samples with bass and drums to create monumental songs that are at once saturated and spacious. Desperate vocals sparsely punctuate the mostly-instrumental tracks. The album expands upon the textural sonic landscapes familiar from Spook the Horses’ live shows.
Visit the muzic.net.nz Profile for Spook The Horses
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